Expidition to Castle Ravenloft - Spoilers and Answers

[Felon]

Wow, I really dislike the Elfkin Anime von Strahd.

Strahd needs a widow's peak.

 

[Cam Banks]

I don't care much one way or the other, but clearly, if there's a bunch of published material out there with Soth in Ravenloft, and we're talking official material, not fan-fiction, then the guy was in Ravenloft. Equally clear is that Hickman & Weiss didn't actually own the character, so the George Lucas analogy falls apart.

As I said, since we don't say anything about him being in Ravenloft, and WOTC has approved this, then the owners of the character have no problem with this approach. We continue to act as if he was never there. This works just fine for Dragonlance and doesn't change the play experience of anybody running Ravenloft campaigns, or enjoying the two Soth novels, or using older materials. What it does mean is that there is no official support for Soth being in Ravenloft at any time in the current established continuity.

As somebody who is responsible for a lot of retroactive continuity wrinkle-smoothing, I fully understand that ire that arises when something is changed from an older source. My response to this is always the same: if you don't like it, don't play it that way.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

...I've removed Felon's insult - Plane Sailing

Thanks for the insult.

Man, people are getting ruder and ruder on these boards. Twice in one thread? I'm outta here. :\

 

[Klaus]

Soth's presence in Dragonlance has been explained as either it being a "shade" of Soth, or the time he spent there happening in the blink of an eye in Krynn.

 

[Cam Banks]

Soth's presence in Dragonlance has been explained as either it being a "shade" of Soth, or the time he spent there happening in the blink of an eye in Krynn.

The White Wolf Ravenloft material never mentions his name, although it does call him the Knight of the Black Rose or something. They weren't given license to actually use Lord Soth himself.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Mangrum]

The White Wolf Ravenloft material never mentions his name, although it does call him the Knight of the Black Rose or something. They weren't given license to actually use Lord Soth himself.

Correct, we think. (The Ravenloft authors were given contradictory answers to this question over the years.)

But yes, the basic understanding was that we couldn't refer directly to other settings, since we hadn't licensed them. In exactly the same way the current Dragonlance team couldn't refer directly to Soth's time in Ravenloft even if they wanted to.

 

[Cam Banks]

But yes, the basic understanding was that we couldn't refer directly to other settings, since we hadn't licensed them. In exactly the same way the current Dragonlance team couldn't refer directly to Soth's time in Ravenloft even if they wanted to.

This, in essence, is why we adopt the approach we do (outside of any other reasons folks may have heard). It's better just not to mention or support it and let people go with whatever they want when they're using the material, than outright say one way or another. It doesn't take much effort, for instance, to use the unnamed death knight Darklord in 3.5 Sithicus as Lord Soth.

This should also explain why there's no Spelljammer port in Palanthas. Well, and because that's a little silly.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Plane Sailing]

Please remember - it is NOT acceptable to insult other people just for disagreeing with them. I've edited out one insult in this thread, if any more crop up we'll probably just have to go with a temp ban, so be warned.

 

[mmadsen]

The original 1E castle had 4 red dragons to char broil those who went in the front door.

That seems...excessive. The original module (which I don't own) is considered a classic. Does it make sense? Or is it fondly remembered because it was a change of pace?

 

[Cam Banks]

That seems...excessive. The original module (which I don't own) is considered a classic. Does it make sense? Or is it fondly remembered because it was a change of pace?

Well, they were 1e dragons, which means they weren't qiote as horrendous as they would be now. But yeah, kind of overwhelming.

Cheers,
Cam